House of Locken
This article is about the Libaterran royal family. For a Libaterran immigrant family, see Locke Family. The House of Locken was the royal house of Libaterra, its kings and queens ruling the kingdom from the capital of Lutherin for generations. The last known monarch was Queen Shyla Locken who disappeared during the Libaterran Civil War when the Locken Loyalists were fighting against the Rebels. History Origins The history of the Locken lineage is shrouded in the mists of time. What is known is that at some point in the early first century of the Third Age a man bearing the name Locken emerged and was successful in rallying an army behind him and uniting the continent of Libaterra under his rule as a kingdom, starting from a grand battle in a location on which a city named Reign would eventually be built to commemorate said history-changing moment in the continent's history. The future members of the House of Locken were descended from the Locken who had turned the continent into a prosperous kingdom, and Reign was regarded as a home of the monarchs because of its significance in their past. The monarchy, however, settled into Lutherin, turning it into the kingdom's capital, but Reign would remain as a secondary, summer home for the royal linage for centuries to come. The Lockens ruled from the House of Valour which stood at the centre of old Lutherin as a sign of their power. Conflicts The rule of Lockens was mixed. On the one hand humans prospered under their stern but still mostly benevolent rule. However, the Lockens seemed to care little for elves and dwarves as they took over the fertile lands from them little by little, which at times sparked wars between the races in the early centuries of Libaterra's history. Eventually some of the more stern and war-mongering Lockens ordered their generals to hunt down the Itica, cat-people native to Libaterra, because they considered the Itica to be freaks, outsiders and practitioners of the forbidden arts. These raids were eventually successful as the Locken army located and burned down the Itica town of Llirin, forcing the few remaining Itica into hiding in the woods. In the tenth century of the Third Age, a group known as the Rebels began forming in Western Libaterra, turning the city of Trinity Gask into their base of operations. The Rebels, led by Mae Torazo and Yoshimuriko, declared independence from the Lockens and their supporters, the Locken Loyalists. The Lockens of this time were more peaceful than some of their more brutal ancestors and wished to solve the new Rebel insurrection peacefully. However, peace talks came to a halt when a band of marauders, who were assumed to have been sent by the Rebels, attacked the Locken family who were returning from their summer estate in Reign to their winter home in Lutherin as autumn came. King Samiel Locken and Queen Fara Locken perished in the ambush, but their servant Theo managed to flee from the massacre with the infant Princess Shyla Locken. The deaths of the ruling couple were seen as an act of high treason, and gave the Loyalists the spark they needed to deal with the Rebels with force. Thus began the Libaterran Civil War which the Loyalists thought would be over in a year or two but ended up lasting for decades. Fall of the Lockens In 1000 AE, Shyla Locken, now Queen of Libaterra and the last blueblood Locken, turned 18. She was asked to marry one of her numerous cousins to keep the bloodline pure and provide the court with a baby which would ensure the continuation of the Locken family. Shyla, however, didn't want to marry out of political obligation but out of love and of her own choosing. She also yearned to see the world outside the palace walls where she'd lived a sheltered life all her years. Shyla was a learned individual and very knowledgeable of her kingdom despite her isolation by having read several books and practiced archery. She used her cunning and skillset to flee from Lutherin and ride off towards the Blood Border and from there on to Trinity Gask where she'd contribute to the war effort and spy on the Rebels in a disguise as few Libaterrans actually knew what she, the sheltered monarch, actually looked like. The Queen succeeded in reaching Trinity Gask and provided crucial intel to the Loyalists of Lutherin via missives and through inside contacts in the Rebels. However, she was eventually discovered and tried to flee from the Rebel capital but was caught only to flee again. After that nothing was heard from her again, and by that time the Rebels had led a successful attack on Lutherin and taken it over, massacring Shyla's cousins and surviving relatives to ensure that no one could have a legitimate claim on the throne. The Rebels' victory was short-lived as the Yamato Empire invaded soon after and both the Rebels and Locken Loyalists were decimated. Nothing was heard from Shyla at this time, and people assumed she had perished along with several Loyalists in these war years. A New Hope It wasn't until 1017 AE after the rise of the Crimson Coalition that rumours began spreading that Queen Shyla was still alive and that Glaurung Losstarot, the leader of the Coalition, was in fact her champion who intended to reclaim the kingdom for the rightful queen. Many doubted these rumours, however, and saw them merely as propaganda which the Coalition used to legitimize its claim over former Locken territories because no one had actually seen the Queen in the flesh and even if she appeared, many would believe it'd only be a fake. The future of the Locken line thus looks uncertain. Whether it truly ended with Shyla or if she's still alive is unknown, and Libaterrans keep arguing for and against it. Whatever the truth is, the shadow of the Lockens looms over Libaterra, still dictating the kingdom's future. Family Tree * dotted lines denote affairs }} See also *Locken Loyalists *Lutherin *Reign Locken * Category:Libaterra Category:Third Age